I've always wanted to make a Farmer's Wife Quilt. I think it is one of the rites of passage for a quilter - like upgrading to proper quilting thread, or discovering that you have more quilting rulers than is strictly necessary. Farmer's Wife Quilt? You've arrived. 

I fell in love with Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage 2 when she released it in 2015, but at that stage I had a tiny baby, another one on the way, and absolutely zero sewing time. I would look at it wistfully on instagram and blogs, watching everyone make their beautiful Farm Girl Vintage quilts while I sterilised baby bottles, changed nappies and packed moving boxes. 

Fast forward six years later (!) and the babies are both a little bit bigger and quite self sufficient. There are no more nappies. The bottle steriliser is gone and there is space for a sewing machine (or two). And I'm ready. I'm ready for slow stitching, fabric gathering, block measuring, and quilting. I'm ready for 50 pieced and quilted blocks, and to indulge in a Farmer's Wife Quilt with a difference. This isn't the old-fashioned quilt of yesteryear. Although those too are beautiful, the cheerful blocks and bright colours of the Farm Girl Vintage quilt are just more - me. 

There are two Farm Girl Vintage books (creatively named Farm Girl Vintage and Farm Girl Vintage 2!). In the sampler pattern (on the front cover of the Farm Girl Vintage 2 book above) there are 20 12-inch blocks and 30 6-inch blocks, and I chose blocks from both books based on what I'd have in my farm if I were lucky enough to live on one! It was really slow going, especially when trying to fit blocks within the tiny moments I've managed to carve out in the early mornings or late afternoons. But it is so worth it. 

I quilted each block differently, and I really like the way that it makes the blocks pop out. I left some small areas unquilted - like the yellow stripes on the bee's body, or the cat face, or the heart in the middle of the beehive. I like that they're puffy and dimensional. 
I really love these yarn skeins! It's the "Grandma's Crochet" block. In my case, it's definitely Mama's Crochet, I don't think either of my grandmothers are known for their crochet.This is the "Evening Star" block. This was my first quilt block for the whole quilt, and I absolutely love these fabrics and the design. We have spent many, many nights under the desert sky watching the stars come out and swirl across the sky in a way that is totally unique to the Abu Dhabi terrain. The beauty of wild camping, which we've been fortunate enough to do for the past year or so, is that you're all alone in the great outdoors and there are no lights to obscure the sky and no other people around to interfere with the quiet of the great outdoors. It's really very magical!

It may have been a bit ambitious to make a one-year-old baby a quilt for her birthday, but she was delighted. She unwrapped it, picked it up, and hugged it with her tiny baby arms. She now points at the squares, and tries to find funny shapes. Clever girl.


I started making this quilt months ago (okay, actually maybe a year ago. Or longer.). I cut up some of my favourite fabrics in 2 inch squares, and then added to the stash every time I had a fabric scrap. I then pieced the squares together one-by-one as the stash grew... LONGEST and most drawn-out method of making a postage stamp quilt ever. The sensible thing to do would have been to piece strips of fabric and cut them out from there, but then I couldn't use up my hoarded scraps. Ah well.


I quilted around each square with straight lines, and then quilted a grid around the whole quilt, going round and round in a tight square with lines about 1cm apart. Such neat quilting... so unlike me. Really love the grid effect, it makes the fabric go all crinkly when it folds up, like an old, much-loved quilt. I think it helps that I used two layers of wadding to make it a bit thicker than usual.

I'm so happy with this quilt, I put so much love and work into it; even pulling out seams when squares didn't line up (!) and carefully lining everything up so there were no identical squares side-by-side. I can't believe I finished it (A) in time and (B) at all. #happy.

And here's what the talented Karen made from them:


A perfectly coordinated Cross Stitch Bag with a Side Kick Bag and a Scissor Fob Gift, available now on Etsy. "This bag," writes Karen, "is perfect for projects to take along with you as well as all kinds of crafts that you want to keep clean and away from sticky fingers or curious pets."

Ha. Like we need an excuse for a pretty zippy purse! Love the gold ric rac. Everything is better with glitter.


I really love Karen's details, and the colour combinations she used. Bubbles, seahorses in love, perfectly stitched felt hearts. They're all very "under the sea"! Visit Karen's blog here to see her other fab fabric combinations.

There's something really nice about receiving goodies in the post. The postman knocks once, twice and then hand-delivers a bubble-wrapped item. It's like your birthday - or perhaps Christmas? - a gift! It's even better when the goodies inside are fabric samples you ordered six weeks ago.

Today I am grateful for receiving my Spoonflower Samples. I ordered them ages ago and they're finally here! It takes ages for orders to arrive from America, although the wait is often worth it. I love that you can create custom fabric designs and have them printed and shipped in just a few weeks.

This collection is a single design featuring flower doodles that I've recoloured in five colours: chamomile, rose blush, lavender, thyme and sage. I'm really pleased with the colouring which took quite a while to get right, so I'll soon enable them for sale in my Spoonflower Shop.

Happy Saturday!

Sometimes you look and look and look. You hunt through bolts of fabric, scarves at markets and department stores, beautiful store displays. You're in no rush, but you still look - just in case. It needs to be just right.

And then, you find what you're looking for, quite accidentally. This Swiss Cotton fabric, light as air, from Stitch Fabrics. Discovered while out at a meeting with a wonderful client who insisted on taking me to the fabric store nearby.

A quiet weekend: an opportunity to bake cakes and to finish off small tasks.


Buttons sewn on the Esme Top.

We made it to the Festival of Quilts. All the way to Birmingham and back. There were spots, fabric strips, bundles of fabric to touch and enjoy, dresses to admire (and seams to deconstruct), galleries to browse, and - lots and lots of hand-stitching. Something has very suddenly come up here, so I'm going to share a few images with you now and follow up later with more info and details once I find my feet.

Let's start with the paper-piecing. Oh, the time! And the effort!



I took a photograph of the quilter's name as well, and can you believe it - it blurred. I think it was from this gallery though. Will find out, as it is rather incredible! Note to self: write down quilters' names. This one was definitely a team-quilt called "Grandmother and..." something. Grr.

There were a few themes that really stood out this year. There were quite a few quilts featuring bees (very topical), and a lot more traditional quilts than I've seen before. Many muted low-volume quilts with beautiful quilting detail.


There were a lot of very time-consuming paper-pieced quilts.


There was a lot of bold colour and glitter. There were also quilters from all around the world - you can see more information on each gallery and collection here.

There were a lot of art quilts - - and quite a lot of wordy quilts.



I was particularly intrigued and impressed by a series of quilts by Annabel Rainbow. They're first sketched out and quilted. Then, they're painted quite beautifully on top of the layers of fabric, wadding, and stitching. I love the union of words and images and ink.

Everybody should have a magic pen. It reminds me of when I was very little, drawing on things with (disappearing) ink in an alarming violet purple ... and then watching it fade from sight. Like spy messages sent in lemon juice. Although, this magic pen (by Madiera) is designed specifically for cross-stitchers and embroiderers, not code-breakers: you trace your design or free-hand draw on fabric, stitch over it, and voila! Perfectly stitched patterns without pencil or chalk markings. The markings start to fade within fifteen or so minutes, and they're completely gone within an hour.

Just a few more bits and pieces to stitch, then it's ready to be pressed and patch-worked.