What Do You Think We'll Be Doing After Graduation?

This week has been far too busy for sewing, after last week's Prom we celebrated Flicky's Graduation from Dwight School at The Met Museum of Art, Manhattan.  It was a fabulous day and even the thunderstorms and flash floods couldn't spoil it!

Here's some highlights - though the photos are a little disappointing as the lighting in the auditorium didn't lend well to flash or no flash photography, hopefully the official photographer knew what he was up to far better than we did.  Check out Tatty giving Flicky her very own Grad card!

There's been several other fun things that have happened this week:

I'm a frequent visitor to the Housing Works Bookstore on Crosby Street, Soho, Manhattan, you can find me there at least twice a week as it's just the best place to grab a gluten-free wrap and a great cup of tea and at the same time supporting an incredibly worthy cause:

"OUR MISSION - Housing Works is a healing community of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Our mission is to end the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS through relentless advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services, and entrepreneurial businesses that sustain our efforts."

  I'm also a member of their International Crime Book Group and if you follow this link you can see some great photos of the store itself and a few photos of me, not looking at my best, at one of our meetups!

This week I picked up a few fabulous bargains while I was at the store:

Haven't had a chance to peruse them at leisure yet, it's been a crazy week, but I'm looking forward to it :)

Always good to get a feature or two and my Burrito Pillowcases have this week been featured by Janice @Better Off Thread and also by Q @JAQS Studio.  Thanks girls, I'm thrilled as always :)

 

And I received a gorgeous parcel in the post from my friend Sarah @Quilt Candy - she's been busy shopping at Liberty, London recently and found time to think of me!  You can read about Sarah's visit on her blog here and you can read all about my visit to Liberty last July in my 'Liberty, London' post here, with lots of gorgeous photos of the building, inside and out.

Oh and maybe you just dropped by to find out what we're doing after Graduation?  Well tomorrow Flicky and I are off to Seville, Spain to visit my eldest son Jack and to meet his girlfriend, Ana and her family.  We're very excited.

I don't have any photos of Jack and Ana to share with you yet, hopefully I can rectify that very soon so instead here's a photo by Flicky ... no cat-beard photos for us, this one's our very own dog-beard!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful week too and this shout out's for Flicky

Congratulations Flicky on completing your International Baccalaureate Diploma and on your Graduation 

We're all so proud of you and love you very much
xxx

 Want to find out about our trip to Seville? -
click here to check out My Top 3 Reasons For Visiting Seville post :)

Linking To:

A Quilting Chance To Win $2,000?

Who doesn't recognise this beautiful, iconic interior? - Grand Central Station, Manhattan.  

  When this photo was taken 3 years ago we were in NYC on holiday from the UK, I had no idea that 11 months later I'd be living here!

Well this year Grand Central Station celebrates it 100th birthday

 I snapped this photo when I was passing through last week.

 My favourite part of the station just has to be the fabulous ceiling

The City Quilter has created 2 exclusive new fabrics in 2 colourways to celebrate the Station's birthday.  They arrived in store while I was at Sarah Fielke's Trunk Show so, of course, I had to buy just a small amount of each to play with!

 This is Grand Central (Aqua)

and here's Grand Central (Aqua) alongside GCT Constellations (Aqua) - Constellations is a study of that wonderful GCT ceiling!

 and here's the Aqua colourway alongside the Beige/Ivory.

And now for the really fab news, and probably what you're all here to find out about! There's a Quilt Challenge organised by American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine & The City Quilter in association with the NY Transit Museum & The Metropolitan Transportation Authority.  

and

the top prize is $2,000!!!

The competition rules are available here and below I've taken a photo of the handout also available in CQ.

Now that's a challenge well worth joining in with but please note the rules do state 'US residents only'.

Updated at 20 May 2014

Of course I wasn't actually able to take part in the challenge as I went and got myself a job at The City Quilter.  You can read all about it here along with a post about the winners of the competition and another about the quilt exhibition opening night at Grand Central Station.

In other news I've had another fantastic week on the blogging front, being featured on 3 terrific blogs:

My Quilted Pillow Cushion With Hidden Zipper Tutorial has been featured
by Kym @Totally Tutorials
and also by Jill @Creating my way to Success

and my Strip Sashing QAYG Method was featured by Pam @Threading My Way
and Pam also made me her feature blog of the week on her side bar.

A very big thank you to everyone :)

As if that wasn't enough, today I woke up to read a really special blog post by my great friend Sarah @Quilt Candy doing the sweetest, kindest shout out for my blog and thanking me for some goodies I sent over to her in a surprise package.
You can read all about it here!!!

All in all it's been a fantastic week but the absolute highlight has to be Flicky's Prom last Friday and here's a handful of photos from the day that I just have to share with you!

Hair by Whitney and Jess @Toni & Guy, Hoboken; pre-Prom photos in the Manhattan garden of my good friend Karen from The City Quilter; arriving at pre-Prom party in Soho; and finally a photo taken from my living room window of Flicky's Prom Cruise Yacht, the Majestic Princess, sailing down the Hudson River - she phoned me as they sailed past and I was busy waving to everyone!!!

Hoping you all have a wonderful week ahead of you :)

Chrissie

How To Make A Modern Sunbonnet Sue - My May 2013 Bee Block

My NYC Mod Quilt Guild  Bee has entered a new year and E gets to be Queen Bee again - you might remember that last year she had us create blocks for her Bible Quilt.

This year E has come up with another wonderful challenge - a modern take on the traditional Sunbonnet Sue/Sam.
Here're the fabric and instructions that she sent out to us

This was a great chance for me to do something a bit more artsy so here's photos I took along the way so you can see a bit of my planning and design and how I created the block

Outline sketch of Sunbonnet Sue on freezer paper.

Fabric detail added to sketch.

12.5" square drawn onto yellow fabric with a blue water erasable marker, if you squint you can just about see the blue lines drawn on the fabric.  Don't cut the block to size yet as the fabric may 'shrink' when you satin stitch the applique onto it.

Sections of sketch cut out and ironed onto fabric (freezer paper adheres to fabric but not permanently).  The fabric is ironed onto the top side of light weight double sided fusible.

Hang on to all the small cut out bits of the sketch that don't need to be ironed onto fabric, you'll need them later to create an outline on the fabric.

Iron the freezer paper sketch outline onto the background fabric in the exact position that you want Sunbonnet Sue to be and draw around the outline as a template - I again used water erasable marker at this stage. 

Remove outline template and place cut out fabric sections of the sketch on background fabric to check placement.

Now I used a fabric pencil to draw over the sections of the outline that I wanted to create with a stitched line on the finished block and then I used water to erase all the blue lines from the fabric

I removed the backing paper from the double-sided fusible and ironed the fabric pieces into their final position on the background fabric and then I removed the sketched freezer paper from the top of each piece.

I used a straight stitch to sew over all the pencil lines on the background fabric and once this was done the pencil lines were no longer visible beneath the stitches.  Next, I used a satin stitch to outline the edge of each fabric piece and to hold it securely in place.  I changed the colour of the thread in different areas to add detail.

I knotted and sewed all the threads through the stitches on the back of the block and then cut the block to size (12.5")

 I'm in love with my finished block - is that okay to say out loud?  I love her so much I'd like to keep her for myself.  I'm very reluctantly going to pop her in the post to E over the weekend and can only hope that she loves her as much as I do. 

I really can't wait to see other blocks for this quilt being posted, it'll be fun to see what everyone else's take is on a modern Sunbonnet Sue/Sam.

You can see my NYC Metro Mod Guild post about the Bee Block here.

Related Posts:

All Done And Here It Is ...

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Quilty - Sun Bonnet Sue/Sam

Quilty - My Bee Blocks

Click these buttons to see more of my NYC Mod Guild blocks and my tutorials

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

What A Girl Wants ... She Usually Gets!

In this instance, the girl in question is my daughter, Flicky, and regular readers can be forgiven for thinking, 'Isn't it always?' and this time, it's pillowcases!!!

Back in February, I shared with you the news that Flicky has been offered an unconditional place to study a Modern History MA at The University of St Andrews in Scotland 

University of St Andrews, Scotland

 and then in March, the two of us did a recce* and loved the place so much that Flicky immediately accepted her offer.

Screen Shot of Flicky's UCAS Offer Page

Anyway, to get back to this post and a bit of sewing content, on a trip to our Manhattan LQS, Flicky had picked out some fabrics and requested a couple of pillowcases for her room at uni. So, with the clock fast ticking now on the countdown to 7 September 2013, I've duly obliged.

Here's my Instagram photo of the fabrics - there are two Avalon JAY-CYN designs for birch fabrics and a piece of Kona Solid 'Red'

I used a straightforward 'burrito method' of making the pillowcases - I'm writing up a tutorial for some eye mask covers I've made recently in the same way, so I'll be sharing that with you soon.

 One happy young lady and another sewing job ticked off a long list.

This weekend, I also started work on a quilt that Flicky requested (see previous post, 'An Unexpected Trip To Mood'). The top and back are done, but I'm waiting for the batting to arrive - she's asked for a puffy quilt, so I will use 2 layers of Quilter's Dream Puff batting.

Instagram photo of my cut selvedge edges for quilt top - Kaufman Essex Linen - La Femme

 I also altered Flicky's prom dress - it needed taking in; she must have lost a few pounds since we bought it. I was terrified I'd ruin it, but it went okay, and Flicky's delighted with the fit now.

Instagram photo of the altered prom dress seam

On a bit of a roll, I decided to bind my first ever fmq sampler that's been in my 'to do' pile for 18 months.

My 'to do' pile is diminishing - I even sewed the handle back on my doorstep last week that the removal men pulled off two years ago when we were packing to emigrate to the States!

I also grabbed myself a great bargain last week - check out all these 40/2 and 50/2 spools of Aurifil thread and packs of sharps - total cost $132.90. Yes, you read that right, $132.90 - Sue at Sue's Sew EZ Designs is having a fantastic closing-down sale; head over and check it out :)

Instagram photo of my sale bargain

I am still deciding what to tackle next today. Maybe I'll look at my Queen Bee Bear's Paw quilt blocks.
What do you have planned for your week?




* old English word: If you recce an area, you visit that place to become familiar with it. People usually recce an area when they are going to return at a later time to do something there - Collins Dictionary 


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Disclaimer: 
This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

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Anything Wills & Kate Can Do ...

Will Ye No Come Back Again? Absolutely, Next September! 
An Unexpected Trip To Mood
Back To Some Serious Quilting
Need To Nail That Bear's Paw