Today my wonderful Mother would have been 75 years old, and Love and Legacy Quilts, which is dedicated to her memory is now 2 years old. My little shop is also celebrating it's 1st birthday. I'm a little ashamed to say that my poor blog has been rather neglected for the last 8 months, but although it may have had to take a back seat for a while, it has not been forgotten, and I simply had to mark today! You know how non-sewing life sometimes comes in 'seasons', and the current one we've been passing through has been a bit of a mixed bag, with some real highs but some challenging lows too. All of that means that regularly updating my blog had to be paused for a time, as there simply hasn't been enough time for everything. I have not stopped sewing, just slowed a little, but we are moving on to a new season now, and I have already decided that time for sewing and chatting about sewing must be greatly increased again as a priority - and after all, we all know sewing is excellent for mental health too. Check out this article https://happiful.com/how-sewing-can-support-your-mental-health/ and many more like it if you don't believe me! :-)

Although my blog writing has been on hold, I am pleased to report that my little shop has been growing, and so has my stash of beautiful Lewis and Irene fabric bolts. We are currently having our loft converted, which means hubby is moving his office upstairs and I will be getting his current office as a stock/storage room, so we are both delighted with that solution to our space issues :-)

I have actually only made 1 quilt from start to finish so far this year, and it was a baby gift that was only actually finished when she was 4 months old. Oops! I do love how it turned out though, and I really love the ombre rainbow effect.

I have been trying to finish up some of my on the go projects before I start too many new ones, which is a good thing as there are an awful lot of them, and I am forever trying to make better use of my sewing space and storage. Yes, I know it's weird, but even just tidying my sewing room makes me feel happy :-)

Sadly, although I feel in just the right mood for going off to sew now, I actually have to go and iron some school shirts, but maybe if I just give them a quick iron, I might still be able to squeeze a tiny bit of sewing time in... Jo x

It feels like a very long time since I updated the blog, but I do like to have a break every Summer, and let's face it, there are basically only 3 half decent Summery months in the UK to enjoy, so enjoy them I did. I also dislike quilting when it's hot, as who wants to have the iron on for pressing and quilts bunched up in your lap when it's already too warm. Anyway, it was a slightly longer break than usual, but now the kids are into their second week of school, life is settling back into a routine again, and it's now cooler again, so I am getting back into the swing of things. Although my sewing has been minimal over the Summer, I did use the time to have a good sort out and rearrange the sewing room so that it works better for me. I am very pleased with the results, as almost everything has a home now, and I can see more easily where everything is. It's still a bit cluttered, but definitely organised clutter for now.

One major new addition the the sewing room this Summer has been my new best friend - the Bernina 770 QE!! :-D Although I love my Janome 9450, I have wanted a Bernina for sooooo long, that in the end, I gave in to my hearts desire and here she is, tada...

She is very beautiful isn't she, and as soon as she was out of the box I could just feel the sturdiness and quality of her. The manual is VERY thick, and full of beautiful full colour instructions which are nice and clear. Normally I read the whole manual cover to cover before I try out a new machine, but I confess that this time I just read the essentials, watched some helpful you tube set up videos and got going, with lots of manual still to read. I haven't tried out my Bernina stitch regulator yet, but this is one of the things I wanted most, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the results in my free motion quilting. I didn't buy it (yet!) but this machine is also set up to add on an embroidery unit if I want to further down the line, which is definitely something I've not used before, and I might try it in the future, but I'm happy just to quilt for now. Another great thing about this is the bobbins, I LOVE the bobbins, and they are bigger than normal, so less bobbin changes - always a winner! Oh, and the little 'wardrobe' for the Bernina accessories and feet to hang in, it is so cool, and I never thought I could get so excited about accessory storage. :-)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to actually getting my quilting underway again, and I have kept my Janome in it's table and put it in the lounge for now, so I can be piecing on one and quilting on the other, until the Christmas tree needs to go up, then I'll need the bay window back. ;-) I am excited to be back on instagram again too, seeing what all my quilty friends are up to and just generally gazing at all the beautiful projects that I need about 100 years to make. Happy Autumn everyone and here's to lots of cool season sewing... Jo xx

I am so thrilled that the sun has finally put in an appearance, and just in time for half term too! As much as I have enjoyed sewing my way through Winter, and a very soggy Spring, I am definitely ok with having a bit less sewing time and exchanging it for days out in the sunshine. :-)

After all the excitement of getting ready for the shop launch last week, and making sure all the technical stuff was working correctly, I have now gone back to the simple pleasure of making quilts again. (Hubby will still be watching over the tech for me) I made a simple square in a square quilt in January, and I love the look of it, so I've started another one in pretty pastels to keep me going over half term.

As you can see, I've got a lot more blocks to go, but they are perfect for when I only have a short time to sew in, as I can just nip in and whip up a few at a time. I actually used a jelly roll and a layer cake for these, but I still have half the layer cake squares and some short strips left, so I'm hoping to get another quilt top out of the remaining fabric too.

At the beginning of the year, 2 of my quilty friends recommended some online classes by Philippa Naylor, and I signed up for the year. I kept meaning to watch them, but I never quite managed to sit down and actually remember, until the last couple of weeks. Now that I've started, I am completely hooked, and have learnt so many things already in just the two classes that I've watched so far. If you want to have a look for yourself, you can find them here: https://www.quiltersquestiontime.com/   The classes are all in small parts, so you can watch one in a tea break, or sit down and watch half a dozen videos, and Philippa is really calm and easy to listen to. Her quilts are amazing too!

After listening to Philippa's chat about threads, I have bought myself some polyester thread and am planning to have a little play with them. I am normally an Aurifil girl, and wouldn't have quilted with anything other than 100% cotton, but I am definitely up for experimenting, so I'll let you know how I get on. Right now though, I am off to enjoy that sunshine! :-)

Wow, I cannot believe it has been a whole year since I launched this blog, and what a year it has been. I'm not sure if any of us will ever again experience quite such a set of unusual circumstances as this past year has thrown at us, but for me, despite the more challenging times, it has still been a year of progress, for which I am hugely thankful. The extra time at home has given me the time and space to really calm down and enjoy my love for quilting, to learn and expand my skills and to think about how I might be able use those skills in the future. I set myself a goal this year (again, as I hadn't succeeded the previous year) to make 1 quilt a month, and so far this year we are still in May, and I have finished or almost finished 10 quilts already, so I'm way ahead of schedule! :-D I've also made a number of cushions and smaller items in between. Another challenge I set myself was to use some of the fabric that I've been hoarding, which I have done, and I am excited to see how many more quilts come to life from my stash.

On the moving forward note, today I have a really exciting announcement, which I have been bursting to tell...This year my amazing hubby has gone one up from the blog and has been building me my very own online shop, which is now ready to launch!!! :-D I am often asked if I sell my quilts, and to be honest, the answer has mostly been " no not really", for a number of reasons. Firstly, quilting is my hobby, something I do to unwind and an outlet for my creativity, and I never want it to become a job - I already have more than enough of those! I have made a few commissions, and it does get stressful working to deadlines and exact specifications, so it's not something I want to do regularly. Secondly, quilting is an expensive hobby, and most people are unaware of the costs involved in making even a small quilt. It makes for an awkward conversation all round when someone enthusiastically asks if you can make them a quilt, and then when you detail the cost of materials, they have to politely find a way to retreat. I totally get that, we've all been there on both sides of the conversation, so it's definitely far easier to avoid it altogether! ;-) Lastly, I simply haven't wanted the pressure. Sometimes I make a quilt perfectly, and it's a thing of beauty. Other times I might try something new, which isn't quite perfect, or I might simply make a mistake, and although it's still beautiful, I am my own biggest critic, and it bothers me. If I felt under pressure to churn out absolutely perfect quilts one after the other, I would lose all the joy of creating, and leave myself no room to try new things and learn from the mistakes in doing so.

So, after all that, I do however simply love making quilts, and I am now making far more than we can possibly use (or store!) so it seemed like the right time to offer a small selection for sale. My production rate will continue to be erratic, as family will always come first, so sometimes there may be nothing listed, and other times I may have made lots. I am not taking commissions as a general rule, but I would be happy to make something you might like, aka, if you say ooh I'd love something like that in purple, I might well make something in purple, and list it, but there is no pressure on either of us if it turns out you didn't like it in purple after all ;-) For now, I'm just happy to start with a low pressure/low key system and see how it goes. You can find the link to the shop under the Quilts for re-homing tab (I know I am silly, but I prefer to think that I am 're-homing' them with a lovely new family rather than 'selling' them, as I do get rather attached to them!) here on the blog, or you can visit directly shop.loveandlegacyquilts.uk  I do try and post updates on Facebook/Instagram, so I may post via there if/when new items have been added, but generally it's probably just worth checking back every now and then.

I think that's enough rambling for today, and I've mostly been focused on finishing items for the shop over the last month, so I'll save my sewing chatter for another post. Now I'm going to take 5 minutes to steady my nerves before I make this public, here goes... :-)

I have yet again been super busy in 'Mum life', but I just keep plodding on one day at a time, and sewing when I can. I had a lovely day on Wednesday this week, as hubby went into the office for the first day in months, and all the kids were at school, so I had the whole house to myself in absolute silence! It also meant that I could spread out into the lounge and kitchen too with no one else using them, so I made the most of a whole day of sewing, pressing, basting and just generally making a happy sewing mess everywhere :-) A good friend has recently had a beautiful baby girl, so that was the perfect excuse to go all out on the pinks and purples for a super girlie quilt, and another chance to practice my free motion writing. I have been working on other words, but some letters still need perfecting before they are quilt-worthy.

I also finished the quilt that I started timing myself on a few weeks back with the wonky stacks look. So although it has taken me weeks, technically it only took me 19.5 hours ish, so I am really pleased with that. It has gone to a lovely friend of mine, and it is a design that I will definitely do again, as I love it. In my head, I can see something similar with lovely stacks of plain solids and embroidered book titles on them so they look like stacks of books, but my head is always full of so many ideas, it's a bit pot luck as to which ones ever make it to the actual quilt stage!

Do you ever find out something that you think you probably should have known, but didn't, and it's actually a game changer? I actually found out something really interesting recently, which I genuinely had no idea about, but that actually makes a huge difference...I love my sewing machine, and it quilts beautifully, but every so often I have a project which it doesn't seem to like, and the thread keeps coming un-threaded and/or breaking. I was sure that this was just human error on my part, and I usually change the needle, check that the bobbin area is cleaned out, re thread the machine etc. but none of it seems to make a difference. Well, I have now found out that batting actually has a right and wrong side to it! I am sure I should have known this, but I didn't, and once I read the article explaining how to tell which is the right side, I have been doing it, and guess what, no problems with any project since!!! In case there is anyone out there that doesn't know this either, this article is very helpful https://www.apqs.com/batting-has-an-up-and-down/#:~:text=Batting that has been needle,formation has a right side.&text=You want your machine's needle,are tiny balls of batting. I have now been vigorously stabbing all my batting with a pin on each side, and you really can tell, as the wrong side periodically has resistance to the pin going in, which I am sure is why my needle/thread were being thrown off so often. I'm guessing that I had a few upside down, hence why the machine seemed fine on one project and temperamental on the next. Hopefully that problem is now sorted for good! :-)

In other news, I've just been binding everything in sight, and I hope to get quilting on my tumbler quilt over the weekend. I'm thinking some kind of leaf pattern would really tie in with the fabric patterns, but am I confident enough to go for it...?

Its school holidays here, so I've not done as much sewing as usual in the past week, as we are making the most of family time, especially now that we have a little bit more freedom. I've set aside today as a catch up day though, as I was very productive before this past week, and I had worked my way though ALL the quilts that were in my to be quilted pile - yay! I've even made and attached the binding to the blue and white one, but as you can see, the rest of them still need binding, and then I shall be hand stitching for quite a few evenings until they are complete.

As you can see, my sewing room is also looking a little bit untidy, so I am going to have to have a big tidying session soon! I am also going to have to make room for some rather large extras that arrived this week - 3 rolls of batting from Empress Mills! :-D I am getting through yards and yards of batting, so hubby suggested that I try buying it wholesale. I initially contacted Empress Mills and asked about buying my usual wadding (Warm and White), and they could supply it, but they also suggested that I try their own brand, and very kindly offered to send me various samples to try out. I made up identical quilt sandwiches with the 3 which I liked best, and covered them with some dense and some spaced out quilting doodles, then I washed and tumble dried them all, to see how they held up. 1 is 100% cotton and the other 2 are an 80/20 mix, and all 3 washed and draped beautifully, which is a must in my book. I am converted, and I genuinely couldn't decide between them, so I ordered a roll of each, and now I have to find a home for them. I was very grateful that they arrived folded in half on the roll, so they are only 4 and 5 ft long, not the full width! If you want any batting, you know where to come ;-)

Because we've been doing other things, I hadn't started any new projects (and I was determined to finish the current ones), until last night, when I just couldn't resist the urge to cut into some fabric. I plumped for a layer cake that has been sitting in my stash for ages, and which is actually very 'un-me', especially as it has orange prints in it, but I was just drawn to it. It has some large/bold prints, so I went for large tumbler shapes which allow the big prints to show off.

I will edge it in plain white, and I popped out to get some binding this morning, so it will be either the teal or the pink, depending on how I feel when it's pieced and quilted. On that note, popping out this morning, to my local Purple Stitches fabric shop, was an absolute joy. It was SO GOOD to be able to browse and feel fabric again, and it's always lovely to chat to Viv and Eve too! The shelves are well stocked and waiting to tempt you if you live anywhere near Hampshire :-D

I think that's enough rambling for today, so I am off to the sewing room...

P.S The Sewing Bee new series starts tonight - hooray!

This is an overdue blog post, but although I may have been quiet on the blog front, I have been sewing at quite a rate of knots, and there are projects in various stages all over my sewing room! I do post mini updates on Instagram and Facebook, but I have finally sat down to note my progress over the last 2 weeks.

First up, I have completely finished my large heart quilt, having stitched down the last of the binding this afternoon. I did make a bit of a rookie error when it came to quilting it though, which meant that it is not quite perfect, but finished is better than perfect, right? I wanted to fill the outside of the heart with all over quilting, but keep the heart itself very simply quilted, in order to showcase the beautiful prints and highlight the heart. I decided to stitch in the ditch around the heart, and then did the outside quilting first, and that was my mistake. I should have started from the middle outwards, to smooth out any potential extra fabric, but as I'd already done it, I ended up fighting folds in the inner heart :-/ I was definitely not going to unpick all that stippling, so I just rolled with it, and apart from a few smaller tucks, I just about got away with it. It really doesn't show when you are just looking at the quilt, and probably it looks far worse to my critical eye, but I was a bit frustrated with myself. It's still beautiful though, and I love that the soft quilting in the heart means it drapes around you (like a hug) and the stiffer edges define it :-)

My friendship braid quilt is the last in the binding queue, and then I have 3 basted quilts to get working on. I managed to baste all 3 in 2 hours 10 minutes the other day, which I thought was quite impressive. On the topic of basting, I'm a spray baster, but if you are a pin baster, and you've had any hiccups lately, Allison over at New Every Morning patchwork and quilting has gathered together lots of helpful tips, after she had a basting crisis this week -  https://patchwork-quilting.co.uk  Isn't it great to be able to share tips with quilters all over the world, and I am forever grateful for all the help and advice I've managed to find online whenever I am a bit stuck! :-)

I particularly love the blue quilt on the bottom of the pile, and one of the fabric lines has this beautiful wording on it - 'Sewing mends the soul', which perfectly sums up how I feel about my quilting, and is one of the many reasons that I love to sew. I am very aware now of the fact that we are going to be getting a little bit more freedom again from tomorrow, and whilst I am thrilled about being able to see friends and family again after so long, even if only outside, I am already plotting as to how I can maintain a healthy amount of sewing time. I've tried to make sure that I have had some sewing time every day over this latter half of lockdown, and it's really become a part of my routine now, so hopefully I'll be able to keep that excellent habit going once busyness returns ;-)

I can be a bit of a sucker for a fancy ruler, or any equipment that makes life easier/quicker, but sometimes I find that I actually don't get on with them myself at all. One of my better buys though has been this Creative Grids Stripology ruler, which has made making binding and sashing a breeze. If you are cutting the width of the fabric, you do need to fold it 4 ways to fit in the lines, so do make sure you have a sharp rotary blade, but other than that, you just line it up and cut along the ruler in the slots at the correct intervals. It's so handy, and definitely one I'd recommend. The red binding is for my daughters quilt, which she has so nearly finished now, and the blue one was for the heart quilt. Hopefully if I keep busy this week, I shall have more binding to make for the next batch of quilts :-)

I am rather excited about 2 things this week, actually make that 3 as the children went back to school, but in my sewing world it's 2. Firstly, yesterday I read that the Festival of Quilts is going ahead at the NEC in the Summer - yay!! Last year the children were all going to be away at church camp, and hubby and I had a mini break planned, including a visit to the show, but obviously that all went out of the window. This year we will probably have to take the children with us, as we are not sure about the camp yet, but they won't want to come to the show, and will probably go on a day out with Dad, so it's still a win win for me :-)

Secondly, and I am very excited about this one, I am now an official stockist for Lewis and Irene fabric! :-D I love their designs and the way they capture nature perfectly in them, as well as the importance of family in what they do, and I have fabric from so many of their collections. I have looked into whether I could order wholesale from them in the past, but when I looked at the form, it seemed that I might need to be a big business or company to order, and I was not brave enough to ask and see. Well, hubby knows that I've always wanted to do this, and unbeknown to me, he contacted them himself to find out the requirements etc. and then surprised me once he heard from them - I love this man sooooooo much! The people we spoke to have been so lovely and helpful, and I have now placed my first order, so in a few weeks, I will officially have my first fabric delivery. I am not planning on opening an actual shop, and my stock will be very small to begin with, but hubby is going to add a little shop page right here for me, and I will probably have a link to an Etsy shop as well. It's a teeny step in the grand scheme of things, but for me it's so exciting, and I've ordered fabric that I love, so hopefully others do too! ;-)

In other news, I finished my wall hanging, (again thank you to hubby who bought me several metres of dowel rods and cut to size for me) and it looks really quite striking, even against my already white wall.

I've also made another quilt top, my 5th one this year, and I took note of how long it was taking me, mainly out of curiosity, as I'm often asked how long it takes to make a quilt, and I simply don't know. From Jelly roll to finished top it has taken me around 8.5 hours so far, so I shall keep adding up when I get to the basting and beyond.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do next, but I do still have to quilt the big heart quilt, and hand stitch the binding on the friendship braid quilt, so I may try and get those finished before I start more projects, but then again, maybe not...

Over the last week or so, in between decorating the hall, stairs and landing, and all the usual Mum/wife duties, I've been trying hard to get through my pile that needed quilting. I am really good at piecing quilt tops, that's one of the best bits, but there is always a pile of things needing to be basted, quilted, or bound, and every now and then I have to catch up. A lot of the work that goes into a finished quilt is actually boring/tedious, and not terribly exciting to share in a blog, but every stage is important, and you only get the beautiful finished product when you've done the less beautiful bits. Today I spent almost an hour just tying and burying knots on a small mini quilt that I made. It was worth it though, and I am now torn between making it into a cushion or  wall hanging. I think I'm leaning towards binding it and going with the wall hanging. Here is the mini quilt in question, a rainbow lattice, and a picture of the back too, as I like it on both sides :-)

I did finish the quilt top that I started last week with the layer cake, and it's now a giant heart. It has joined the basting queue for now, as I can only baste on the weekends when the kitchen table isn't required for schooling!

I have also finished another cushion, and although I'm not 100% sure about my colour choices, I do love the striped effect, and the doodled hearts along them. My favourite bit is actually the back, as I managed to pattern match the two halves of the envelope back really well, and it looks great :-)

I feel like I am constantly changing my sewing feet at the moment, as I flit between piecing, quilting, binding etc. and it has reminded me how grateful I am for my lovely machine, and how easy it is to change them. My most used ones are my free motion foot and my quarter inch foot, like most quilters I am sure, but I am trying to get to like my walking foot a bit more too now. I am finding that the quilts don't sew as smoothly with it though, and there seems to be a lot of resistance, plus it seems to encourage puckers on the top of my quilts - does anyone else struggle with this? My standard sewing foot still seems much better for straight line quilting, but it may just be something I am missing, as I know others rave about their walking feet. I'll keep trying for now...

We finally made it to half term!! :-) Hi five to all of us parents for making it to the break, although it seems to have been very short, and I cannot believe we are back to school tomorrow already. This week has been all about spending time with the kids, my 3rd child's birthday and getting some decorating done, so not much sewing got done, but I have sneaked into the sewing room a few times.

I have popped together 2 cushion tops this week, and am enjoying playing with different designs. I tried a scrappy strip one, with some gorgeous blue strips that I had. I do rather like it, but I feel like it's missing something, so maybe I'll have to get creative with the quilting... The other one is a diagonal stripe one with half square triangles, in some cheery Spring colours. I must crack on with the quilting this week, as my 'to be quilted' pile is growing fast!

Despite the unfinished pile, I have already started my next project, and here's a sneak peek at the fabrics to be included...

These are by Lewis and Irene, a range called Sew Mindful. It's a slightly older range, as I've had this for a while, but the colours are just so lovely, and who doesn't love beautiful butterflies. I won't be chopping these up into small blocks, as these prints need to be shown off!!

I may not have been very busy on the sewing front this week, but there are lots of other quilters who have been. One of them is my friend and talented local quilter Allison Reid, who has been busy making cute pin cushions and sewing baskets this week. She has been kind enough to share a free tutorial for making the basket this week, so do pop over to have a look at New Every Morning Patchwork and Quilting, If you don't fancy making one yourself, you can purchase some already made ones in her shop - win win! :-)  https://patchwork-quilting.co.uk/table-top-sewing-basket-tutorial/  I actually have one of Allison's baskets, and I keep all my curved safety pins and bits in it for basting. It then sits by my machine and I just pop the pins back in as I quilt/take them out, so everything is kept nice and tidy.

Well, it's all quiet here, so I am going to head off back to the machine and get some sewing in while the coast is clear, and before somebody asks me what's for tea! :-)

I've managed to completely finish 2 projects this week, and very nearly finish a 3rd, so I'm calling that a success, even though I've had a lot less sewing time than I had hoped for. I also conquered a bit of a fear of mine, and branched out with my free motion quilting into a little bit of handwriting. It turned out really well, so I was very pleased with that :-)

My first finish was the rag quilt that I made before Christmas, but I have taken ages snipping all the seams, as it's a boring job, even in front of the tv, and my hands can only do so many snips before they ache. I finally finished it, and then it was time for the final step, which is a wash and a tumble dry cycle to bring out those beautiful raggy edges. The back is lovely and flat, the front has this fantastic texture and flannel is so heavy and warm, it is just perfect for cold evenings.

The only downside to rag quilting is the amount of fluff (everywhere. It covers everything and everyone it touches, but it does improve a lot after that first wash. This is how much came out of my dryer, just from that one quilt...!

While I am on the topic of fluff, it is a constant battle to keep, my sewing room free of it, along with all the bits of thread, and I have a carpeted room. Next time, I would definitely choose a hard floor, so I could just sweep it all up, but for now, the battle continues, although I found myself a pretty decent ally recently. I saw this little tool for getting fluff and pet hair etc. out of the carpet, so I bought one, and it is actually very good. It does involve crawling around on hands and knees to drag it across the carpet, but it picks up all the threads the hoover refuses to, so it's a start. Do other people struggle with this, and if so, how do you deal with all the thread ends and fluff?

My second finish of the week was a cushion that I pieced the top for ages ago, and it was meant to be one of a pair for our room, only I never got around to basting and quilting it. I was in the mood for a rainbow, so I fished it out and got it finished. They don't match perfectly, so I may keep them apart, as the first one I made the border too small, so the cushion had to be really stuffed inside, and I fixed that on the second one, but you can really see the difference, so it's slightly annoying.

I've so very nearly finished my baby quilt too, I just have to hand stitch the binding down and bury all the knots on the top and it's done. This is the one with the free motion writing, and I REALLY love it! :-)

I've been having great fun with my new instagram account, and I've found lots of other quilty pages to follow. I don't know how I'll ever get all the projects made that I want to, especially as I see new ideas every day, but I'll just keep sewing and see what happens :-)

I woke up early this morning, and just couldn't get back to sleep, so I crept downstairs, making sure not to wake up my youngest and have been enjoying some rare time completely alone and in total silence - it's bliss! :-) I love my family dearly, and they have all been amazing during this past year, but I do also love to be alone sometimes, and that is virtually impossible when there are 5 of you living, working and schooling at home. Thankfully I've learned to adjust to the new normal, and get on with my sewing despite the constant interruptions, and I've managed quite a bit this week.

I found a mini charm pack in my stash which was the perfect size to make this sweet little heart block cushion. I actually love the heart, and I am thinking it would make a lovely quilt with lots of rainbow heart blocks, or even a giant heart with a layer cake...

I enjoy making cushions alongside my quilts, as they are nice little projects which finish quickly, so I get a few 'ta da' I've finished something moments to spur me on in between the larger projects. I had some small lengths of jelly roll strips left over from my blue/grey quilt, so I chopped them up and made a coordinating scrappy cushion to go with it. Now I really am all set for snuggly TV evenings.

Aside from the cushions, I've made progress on my little mouse quilt blocks, and I am excited to see it come together as a cute baby quilt.

I've also done some sorting out, mainly of 2.5 inch strips, as I had quite a few shoved in a box, but they are now neatly organised into colour and folded. (Thank you to my daughter who helped me fold them all) I'm definitely a little short in the yellow department, and the orange too but that's ok, as orange is my least favourite colour and I basically only tolerate it because it's needed in rainbows!

My last achievement for this week is possibly my biggest, but it doesn't involve sewing as such... (insert drum roll here)  I'm not very tech savvy, but this week, I have managed to set up both an Instagram and a Facebook page for Love and Legacy Quilts, and I can now post to both with just one post! :-D Ok, yes I know I am years behind the rest of the world, but hey, I'm still proud of myself for figuring it out in the end. I'm so excited to hopefully find more kindred spirits, and I am loving following other quilty people so my feed is full of ideas and inspiration! I've no idea how I'm going to find the time to sew all these new ideas, but I'll get there in the end I'm sure.

Today is the 1st of February, and I'm already feeling so much more cheerful. January always feels about 3 months long, then suddenly February arrives, and it feels like it's only a few weeks until Spring, which it is, and everything just looks brighter. I'm also feeling very pleased with myself, as I have now finished my second quilt top of the year so far, and basted it, plus I've already started cutting out quilt number 3! :-) I am determined this year to use up some of my stash, so all 3 quilts are made with fabric that I've had for a while, and had resisted cutting into until now.

Quilt number 2 was made with one of my favourite shapes, hexagons. I just love the way hexagons look, and as I love bees, they do remind me of honeycomb. This time it was technically half hexagons, which are a sort of cheats way of doing hexagon quilts without Y seams, but they can also be arranged in other patterns too. You can see all my cut hexies below, and the colours are just so fresh and beautiful. This was a fabric range by Dashwood Studios, and I think it was all from the Fly Away collection, but there may be a few co-ordinating fabrics from other collections sneaked in there too.

After a little play with the hexies, I decided on the friendship braid design, but I didn't wan't to just have lines of braid, as I felt it would be too much, so I've bordered each of them, and added a line of horizontal hexies across the top and bottom. I really think it makes the design and colours stand out :-)

Here is is all basted, and now I just have to decide how to quilt it. Note: I have spray basted it AND pinned it for extra security, but if I was only pinning it, I would have used lots more pins!

As I didn't want to start quilting yesterday, but did want to be getting on with something, I have cut up 15 fat quarters of sweet Love me, Love me not fabric by Lewis and Irene into 5 inch squares. I'm not sure how I'm going to lay this out yet, maybe just a classic patchwork 9 patch, or a tossed 9 patch, or maybe snowball the corners, who knows, but I'll enjoy playing around with them, and the mice are absolutely adorable :-) I would also like to point out my new cutting mat in the photo, which is bright pink, and is making me very happy! I was having a problem with my Olfa rotary cutter too, where the blade has started wobbling around. I have had it for a while, and maybe I did something to it, but it was getting frustrating when it wobbled during cutting, so I decided to get a new one. This is an unbranded one from Amazon, but it was purple (much nicer than yellow) and the reviews looked ok, so I thought I'd give it a go. It's actually brilliant so far, and came with a titanium coated blade which is still going strong, so I haven't tried to change it yet and see if my Olfa blades fit, but if not I would happily buy the blades that it came with. Cutting is now so much more enjoyable with pretty coloured accessories :-)

I'm sure that most of us are feeling a little blue right now, as lock down continues, the weather is cold and grey and those of us who are parents keep plodding on with 'school'. I have to admit, I am very fortunate to have older children who largely work independently now that they have proper lessons, but the long monotonous days sat in front of a laptop are not particularly enjoyed by any of us. I really struggled to get going after Christmas day had gone, and there was nothing particularly on the horizon to look forward to any more. I just wasn't feeling very 'quilty', and couldn't think straight enough to actually plan and execute a project, but last week, I decided enough was enough. I KNOW that sewing always makes me feel better, it gives me something constructive to do, takes my mind off the daily worries and the satisfaction and sense of achievement I feel when I finish a project gives me a real buzz. So I picked out some fabric and a quilt design, and got myself going again, and I've finished an entire quilt in a week - it does feel good! :-) Here's how it came together...

Blue is my favourite colour, and I've had this fabric in my stash for a while now, waiting to be used. I am terrible with fabric I love, and I tend to hoard it for ages not wanting to cut it up, but this time it jumped out at me, as all those lovely blues and greys seemed to fit perfectly with my mood. I used a charm pack (and a few extra squares) and a jelly roll to make the square blocks pictured, which made a good sized single quilt, and I even have a few jelly roll strips leftover.

Once I got sewing, the blocks came together really fast, and I just had to trim them all to 8 and 3/4 inches, and assemble them in rows, adding a 2.5 inch border to finish the quilt top.

Basting is my least favourite job, but I got it all sandwiched together on Saturday morning, and it was ready to quilt. As the quilt itself is actually very 'busy', I didn't want to overdo the quilting on it, and it would probably be wasted anyway, as there are too many patterns going on to see it, so I opted for a simple criss cross lattice design. I didn't measure or mark out the lines, as I genuinely hate doing that, and if I wanted perfect lines, I'd go out and buy a mass produced one from a factory! I just attached my walking foot and meandered across the quilt in straight-ish lines, and I like it. I then made a lovely navy binding from one of the fabrics, and have happily been hand stitching it down for the last 2 evenings whilst watching football - perfect! :-) The backing is beautiful, and I would quilt happily have the quilt upside down too, as it's just as nice.

I absolutely love the finished quilt, and this one is going to be staying at home with me for sofa snuggling and cosy nights. Although it is a single quilt, I've laid it out on our kingsize bed, and it covers quite a lot of the bed. Hubby doesn't like being hot, or extra covers, so actually I only need a single to keep my side warm anyway. I've called it January Blues, but this time those blues (and greys) have been turned into something positive!

When my daughter was younger, she was keen to sew along with me, and she made a few simple projects of her own, like cushions and a dolly quilt. She fell in love with some red and white snowman/Winter themed fabric on a trip to a fabric shop one day, and so I bought her a layer cake with those fabrics in for her birthday, to make her first full size quilt. She was so excited to make this quilt, and she opted for triangles, carefully sewing a red and white one together with pretty neat 1/4 inch seams. Once she had finished, she popped them to one side and went off for a rest, planning to come back and sew the blocks together another day, but that day never happened. Secondary school hit her hard, and she found herself with long days, lots of homework and very little free time, plus hitting the teenage years definitely dampened her enthusiasm for creative pursuits!

Well, fast forward a few years, and my now 15 year old daughter was watching me quilting like a maniac on all my projects before Christmas, and she suddenly said, "I must finish the snowman quilt I started ages ago!" Obviously I had all the blocks safely stored away, so I was able to dig them out, and she went straight back at it as if there hadn't been a gap of several years. I was using the main sewing room, so I had to set her up in the lounge on my desk with my small machine, but she just got on with it, and she has a beautiful red and white chevron quilt top all finished now. She has also pieced together strips for the backing too, so it's actually me holding her up now, as I need to help her baste it, but after that, she is going to quilt and finish it herself. I am definitely very chuffed that she has picked up her sewing again, and I thought it was definitely worth a blog post to commemorate the occasion :-)