It's been a while since I last had a project to post about in my Wednesday WIP series! With so many new things on the go, there hasn't been a lot of works in progress. Must. Finish. Something.

This past week I managed to find a little time to finally finish stitching on the binding to my Garden Party Quilt.

This weekend was the first time that we didn't have visitors staying, we didn't have any guests popping in for dinner or tea, and we didn't have any immediate plans. In fact, it was the nicest kind of weekend: just the two of us, at home, with a pot of home-made vegetable soup, a loaf of bread straight out of the oven, and a whole lot of sewing (for me, anyway).

I've had a quiet stitchery week: I've done a lot of late-night working, and deadline-meeting, and workshop-teaching, and all things work-related. But, still, my Up & Away stitchery progresses for quiet moments of happiness that punctuate the real world. Oh, to be in a balloon away from wi-fi and technology and projects.


Thar she blows! It's looking rather colourful now with the minty stripe which makes me think of this as toothpaste rather than some intensive cross-stitchery. And yes, that is Mary Berry in the background; she's looking rather lovely in her chic French stripes. And what's that big white cloud in the top right?


I may have been working on my Garden Party Quilt. Just maybe. It's slow going. I'm stitching straight lines on my machine, then weaving in all the ends by hand. It's lovely. I'm sorry I didn't dye the back a light duck egg blue (ah, hindsight), but the white will grow on me when I add in the stitched floral borders in pink and green. I think. I hope. I still need to stitch a label for the back so it may suddenly have a surprisingly floral burst of blue on the back. I love those kinds of surprises: the secret kind, that are only found when you really look for them in unexpected places. Like the last Reece's Cup which fell out of the packet and into the bread bin to be saved for later. Or a flowering Orchid bud that has sprouted under a leaf long after all the others have died off. Or even an unexpected bit of fabric that you bought ages ago and has since found its way to the back of the stash pack, wrapped up in a plastic bag. Those kinds of surprises. Mm.

I had every intention of writing today's post all about my beautiful Garden Party Quilt which makes me smile from ear to ear every time I see it... but alack! The quilt wadding and quilting threads I ordered NINE days ago still hasn't arrived (despite delivery estimates of approximately 3 - 4 days!) from The Cotton Patch.

And so, last weekend, I had to start something new.






















This is the Animal Alphabet Quilt pattern from Don't Look Now. I bought it at the Festival of Quilts from Creative Quilting - a fantastic quilting shop based in Surrey. I can't wait to have a free Saturday so we can take a drive down there! Anyway, back to the animals. There was a made-up quilt on display which looked incredible, and I knew straight away that I wanted one.

I wanted one.

For myself.

I know, I'm selfish like that.

















Here are my alligators. They're made from Moda Basics green dots, Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms Delhi Blooms, and a charm square of Moda Marble in lime.

The pattern is fantastic. Each animal is made up of layers of appliquéd fabric, and you can trace it directly off of the A3 pattern paper onto Bondaweb/Heat 'n Bond/applique transfer iron-on stuff.

















The Bondaweb lets you get really accurate cuts - new favourite sewing accessory, ever.


















These are my butterflies. I cut these out of Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms Sari Bloom and Riley Blake's Woodland Tails Dots. The letters are cut from Moda Marble basics.

















I'm really looking forward to stitching these down! You're supposed to free-motion the edges, but I'm going to use a satin stitch instead. I'm not brave enough for free-motion in colour cottons just yet.

















This is what I've chosen for the binding: it's from the Amy Schlimer Animal Party Too range. Some of these fabric ranges have odd names.

I am going to carry on with this as an "in between" project because it's so easy to pack away. I have all of my cut-out animal shapes in a ziploc bag, and I'm using up lots of scraps and remnants on the appliqué shapes, yay.

And, hopefully, my wadding and threads will arrive some time this week so I can finally get started on the much-awaited quilting-binding-stitching-free-motioning-stencilling extravaganza that is the Garden Party Quilt!

I got all caught up in the Paralympics and other goings-on that I completely forgot to share with you the last official summery day here in London Town!

As it just so happened, we were invited to a Tea Party on said day.

















... and what is a tea party without cake? What a spread! Scones, muffins, fruit cake, coffee cake, almond cake, chocolate cake, sandwiches, fruit, and more.

















I say "and more" because I was somewhat distracted from the rest of the cakes by this piece de resistance! What a spectacular triple chocolate cake of greatness. We took home a slice to share (all legit, like. We got a piece to go).

















I don't know what's more impressive: the delicious fruit cake, or the pretty doily-style cake stand. Mm.

















Cake and Almonds, Oh My! With a lot of patience and a healthy supply of nuts, that centre blossom could turn into a bunch of chrysanthemums.






















I think you should forgive me for making floral comparisons: look at that garden. That's the first thing I saw when I walked in, so you can imagine what was on my mind. I know. I couldn't contain my garden-geek-excitement either. Monty Don, eat your heart out.






















I don't know a lot about gardening (I like to sit in them more than I like to, uh, make them) ... but I do know that some of these flowers are suspiciously successful at blooming all-year round.






















... another one of those annual bloomers. My kind of garden!

















The colours that you find in an English Garden like this could inspire a range of crafty goodness. Just look at that balance of pinks and greens!

















Add to that a healthy balance of sage green, cheery sunshine yellow and a deep, inviting maroon and you have a winning combination of colour goodness.

















Okay, I'm almost done here. Just a few more pictures of summer, okay?

















Echinacea?

















Garden squee! I will save you from the thousands of photos I took of Miriam's fabulous veg patch. Let's just say, she doesn't need to order a weekly veg box. Nosirree.

















Other areas of the garden included the piggery (!), the beehive (with real bees, I Kid You Not), the Giant Man Shed (filled with China), King Arthur's Grave, a pond, a greenhouse and let's not forget, statues of maidens.

I am so grateful that this is where we got to spend our last day of summer. The skies are now slightly greyed-over and there is a definite chill in the air. I am - as I type - wearing socks. Socks!


This is the kind of garden that inspired my Garden Party Quilt (okay, yes, and the garden where we had our wedding). I can't wait to snuggle up under the greens, yellows and pinks of my own piece of summer... now, if only the Cotton Patch would deliver my quilt wadding... Huff. 8 days of waiting and counting.