Kaleidoscope Frenzy

I'm working on an idea for a new workshop. It'll be called Kaleidoscope Frenzy. Here are 18 of my kaleidoscope hexagons; I have another 18 to make.

I've worked out some great tips for getting the hexagons just right and for the centres to all be perfect (well nearly!).

Maybe not a great choice of fabric, since it was predominantly green, but it's all a learning curve.
I'm planning to insert some other hexagonal blocks and will use those to bring out the other colours - orange, pink and black.

Watch this space for progress!

Buckeye Charm and Pocket Bag

Back in September / October I was making this quilt and I wanted to share it here, but couldn't in case my Mum saw it. It was a surprise gift for her and David's 25th Wedding Anniversary.

Well now they have it; it's on their bed and goes beautifully with the colour scheme in their bedroom.
It's the Buckeye Beauty block and is made from two charm packs, hence the name - Buckeye Charm.

Over the weekend I have been working on an idea for a new bag design ready for a workshop in March.

This one has a row of three pockets on the outside, another double pocket inside and nice long handles so that it'll go over my shoulder.

Haven't got the patterns sorted yet, but I'm working on them and they'll be available on the web-site as soon as they're done.

Christmas is a-coming

I spent the day making Christmas cards. Used a combination of Free Motion Embroidery and some of the decorative stitches on my machine (Janome Memory Craft 4800) and Mettler metallic threads. I just drew a rough outline of the image I wanted using my Sewline white marker, filled in the shape with fancy stitching and then straight stitched around to neaten off the outside.

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All snowed up

After constant snow fall during the night I decided to cancel classes for the next few days. I don't want people to risk trying to get here and getting stuck on the way.
This posting is a bit of an experiment; the first time I have blogged direct from my phone, including a dodgy photo of the snow take this evening, out of the backdoor.

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Thanks for the push, Viv

Thanks to Viv for 'nagging' because I haven't blogged for a while, I decided to let you know what progress I've been making lately.
Following the Mariner's Compass Quilt class on Friday morning, I got my 'West' block complete (as in North/South/East/West) and finally got all those blocks along with some border pieces attached to my compass.

I know the white looks a bit stark in the photo, but it's going to have a trailing vine of flowers appliqued all over it, so that will tone it down a bit.

Prior to that I've been catching up on a bit of quilting. My favourite quilt of the moment is the Four in a Box quilt. I didn't like it much at first, as it was all a bit too busy, but it's definitely growing on me and fast becoming a favourite to snuggle up with on the sofa.

I took a while to decide how to quilt it, but in the end I went for "In the Ditch" around each block, and then a geometric pattern in each Four-Patch and a trailing vine of hearts in the border.

Christmas is Coming

Well it's only 4 months away - as at yesterday.
For once I'm ahead of the game and have completed my samples for this year's Christmas Patchwork Workshops where we'll be making a Christmas Star Table Runner and matching Placemats.

Well, when I say completed I mean I've done the patchwork bit, but they don't have any backing or quilting yet.
I used fabrics from the FruitCake collection by Moda.
And I'm planning to use the same block to create a Sofa-Throw, but I'll probably try different fabrics for that one.

Foundation Piecing - You can do it too!

I've shown pics of this quilt at various stages. Now it is finally quilted and bound.

If you want to make one for yourself I have a mail order Block of the Month Workshop for it.
You get a fabric pack up front in a choice of colours and then instructions every month to make all the blocks and the border.

Food For Thought

So, if you looked at the photos from the other day - kitchen floor tiles - large cooker in the background - you'll realise that we love to cook. Well, Alistair does most of the cooking these days, since I am busy with my workshops. Yesterday he came up trumps - using a rather over-grown courgette from our garden. He sliced it open, removed the seeds and stuffed it with beef machaca mixed with borlotti beans, chopped onion and peppadew peppers (you could always use some chilli con carne). Topped with grated cheese and breadcrumbs and baked in the oven for about 40 minutes (could have been a bit longer). Served with sour cream and chile sauce. Yum Yum. I'd love to do this again!

A Day in the Garden

On Thursday I had a lovely day teaching a 'Handy Bags' Patchwork workshop and managed to get a 'sample' bag completed for myself - This is done using Hunky Dory fabrics for the strips and the lining and Verna for the accent.

 Yesterday Alistair and I spent a very productive day together in the garden, clearing out a load of rubbish, rearranging a few things and generally having a good old tidy-up.

Very satisfied to have everything done by mid-afternoon, so we sat on our bench with a glass of wine and surveyed our handiwork until it started to cloud over.
(Photos were taken this morning and we've had a light shower overnight)

Latest Patchwork Projects from the Cooper Household

Alistair has been doing his own patchwork - working very hard to tile the kitchen and downstairs bathroom floors.

I have been designing my own Bargello Quilt using diddy-little bits of paper in preparation for the Advanced Bargello class that I'm running in a couple of weeks.

Here are the fabrics that I'm planning to use.